This invention relates to novel cationic polymer compounds. More particularly, it relates to cationic polymer compounds, useful as flocculant, which comprise as their principal component polycondensates to phenols having at least one dialkylaminomethyl substituent in the nucleus thereof and epihalohydrins.
A variety of flocculants have been now developed and used for removal of fine suspended particles or colloidal particles from effluent derived from various industries or in papermaking processes. Most of them are inorganic flocculants including aluminum sulfate, polyaluminum chloride, ferrous sulfate, ferric chloride and the like. These inorganic flocculants are advantageously inexpensive in cost but involve a number of disadvantages: In general, they have to be used in large amount; The sludge after concentration and dewatering contains large amount of metal oxide and hence the volume of the sludge becomes great; and where the sludge is subjected to further treatment such as burning, large amount of ashes are undesirably produced, presenting another problem of treating such ashes.
In order to overcome these disadvantages of the inorganic coagulants, a number of studies of organic flocculants have been made intensively. As a typical example of organic polycationic flocculants there are known polycondensates of epihalohydrins with amines including, for example, a polycondensate of epichlorohydrin and ammonia (Japanese Patent Publication No. 38-26794), polycondensates of alkylenediamines and epichlorohydrin (Japanese Patent Publication No. 41-17965), polycondensates of polyalkylenepolyamines and epihalohydrins (Japanese Patent Publication No. 38-20741), polycondensates of primary amines and epichlorohydrin (U.S. Pat. No. 3,567,659), polycondensates of secondary amines and epichlorohydrin (Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 49-37440 and 51-22471 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,945), and the like. However, these flocculants are low in molecular weight and have thus drawbacks that the ability of flocculating and settling fine suspended particles is poor and that they are consumed in large amount to achieve desired levels of flocculation. In addition, some of them are expensive.